Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Starting all over again is not a bad thing!


 
Let’s start from the beginning.  In 2009 I started a non-profit that was called “Young Mother’s Take Charge, Inc.”  One day while I was working at the library, I was sitting at the information desk and a young mother approached me. She asked me, “Can you buy some diapers for my daughter? She is wearing her last one and I do not have any money.” I thought she had a lot of courage to ask me this, so I decided to buy the diapers for her. But it did not stop there. I started thinking about resources that could help the young mother and her child. Later on that evening, I started to think about when I was a young mother and all of the many young parents I saw at the Library branch each day. Then, my light bulb moment came. I would start a “Young Mothers Club” support group. 

Well, my idea did not stop there.  Not only did I want to start a support group I wanted to start my own non- profit.   So, I thought to myself why not start having library programs at work and Young Mother Take Charge support group meetings on my own time to support my vision.  The programs on both ends were very successful, but one dilemma got in my way.  This dilemma was called conflict of interest, which I was vaguely aware of but not quite sure of what it really meant.  So when the head people from my job wanted to meet with me on this matter, I was a little taken aback.  But on that day, I also did not realize that I will be saying good bye to this wonderful initiative of empowering young mothers.   I simply could not handle managing working full time and running a non-profit separately without the support of the library. Well, at least I thought then.

  A lot of time has past since “Young Mothers Take Charge, Inc.” had to come to the end.  I am still employed as a library assistant and I am very grateful for my job.  My hands are still full balancing family obligations and my full-time job.  However, I wake up every morning thinking about my dreams and inspiration.  I think about what can I do to make this dream a reality?

Another passion of mine is shopping for clothes on a budget.  I enjoy shopping at thrift stores, consignment stores, discount stores, and I love eBay.  I actually taught two eBay classes at the library.  I started a blog called “Retail Therapy 4 Moms” to document my journey of opening my own resale clothing shop by selling on eBay.  I was really excited about the idea and was thinking that this was it; that is what I want to do!  Yes, this is what I want to do; but my passion of helping young moms still lives my heart.  So, I thought of a way that I can put both of my passions together for the same cause. 

I’m in the very beginning process of re-inventing “Young Mother’s Take Charge”. I want to create a environment where young moms can embrace their beauty inside and out, read books, receive informative resources all in one space.  Please following  my journey  as an new entrepreneur in the making.  Please feel free to be apart of this journey with me.  I will be more than happy to take any advice, business tips, and support along the way.
Thank You,
Victoria Thomas

 

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